Avro 730 Model
This is the Avro 730.
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The Avro 730 was a planned Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft and bomber for the Royal Air Force. If it had proceeded into service, the aircraft would have replaced the V bombers as the primary delivery system for Britain's nuclear deterrent. It was cancelled in 1957 along with other development on manned aircraft as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper.
The Avro 730 was a tail-first aircraft, an approach which greatly reduced trim-drag while increasing lift at slower speeds. The aircraft had a long, thin fuselage with a high fineness ratio; a small tapered almost-rectangular wing was mounted centrally on the fuselage. Four Armstrong-Siddeley P.156 engines were carried, two each mounted over-under in pods at the extreme tips of the wings. No conventional canopy was fitted in order to maintain the fineness ratio, the cockpit featured only two small windows facing to the side, and used a retractable periscope for viewing during take-off and landing. A crew of three would be carried: pilot, navigator and radar operator.
This initial version was intended strictly for the reconnaissance role, using its "Red Drover" sideways-looking radar to find targets for attack by the V bomber force that would follow. As development progressed it became clear that the radar would not need as big an antenna as initially believed, freeing up considerable internal room. In response, the RAF started concentrating on the secondary bombing role carrying both the radar and also including a long bomb bay for either a weapon or additional fuel. A high-speed bomber requirement was also being studied at the time, OR.336, so the two projects were combined into the new RB.156 requirement. This led to a fairly major redesign.
Although the new version looked much like the original, it was larger overall and featured a new wing planform. In order to increase wing area extra "winglettes" were added outside of the engine pods and the entire planform was re-shaped to be more of a classic delta wing. The wing inside the engine pods, about ⅔ of the overall span, was swept at about 45°, the smaller area outside was more highly swept at about 60°. The forward sweep on the trailing edge was removed. The engine pods were now specified to carry four Armstrong-Siddeley P.176 engines each, for a total of eight. The pods were circular at the front and mounted a single large shock cone, and grew progressively more "square" to the rear, where they ended flush with the rear of the wing. The rest of the layout was generally the same as the earlier version, with the rectangular canards, "hidden" cockpit and large cropped-delta vertical fin at the extreme rear.
The new version also had reduction in crew to two members. The bomb bay was narrow but very long at 50 ft (15 m), and was intended to be armed with a nuclear-tipped stand-off missile. A suitable warhead started development as Blue Rosette.
So, here is my version made on Google sketch up.
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It is not 100% accurate, but I hope you'll agree with me that it is an awesome plane and it should be turned into a speed build kit.
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